Piano jazz suggestions

Tord Gustavsen perhaps?

Tried using Pandora (internet radio) as a way of being turned onto like artists?

Try Marian Mcpartland.

Her Piano Jazz series are pretty good start.

Marian McPartland

I'd suggest the well known trio 'Search Engine'....

The albums you mentioned are quite easy to get to grips with and I would suggest the following that are in a similar vein –

Bill Evans - All of his Riverside recording and work on the Verve label. The four albums with Scott La Faro are arguably the pinnacle of piano trio jazz playing. Additionally, you may be aware that he is an important influence on two seminal albums - 'Kind of Blue' and 'Blues and the Abstract Truth'

Oscar Peterson - Huge output on the Verve and Pablo labels. I would suggest 'Night Train' and the set 'Exclusively for my Friends'

Hampton Hawes – Four

Plus a lot others I cannot recall!

Karl

Not sure if he's smooth enough for you but i love Brad Mehldau's playing. His trio albums are particularly good.

I'm a big fan of Mary Lou williams and Alice Coltrane too. If you like your'e playing soulful they're well worth checking out.

Anything by Teddy Wilson.  I saw him with MM in Seattle a few years before he passed on.  Sweet, smart music.

Nick

Serge, I read about this musician and this album here, and it's become one of my favorites in the piano trio genre.

Hi Serge -

There are some great suggestions above, and lots of other smooth jazz pianists worth trying...

Sonny Clark

Ramsey Lewis

Ahmad Jamal

Errol Garner

Hank Jones

Andre Previn

There are also lots of pianists who are known for more up-tempo swing jazz, or even more adventurous forms of improvisational  jazz, who also produced some beautiful albums of smooth jazz (e.g., Monk, Tatum, Tyner, Powell, Silver, Hill...and so on).

When I know what I want to listen to, I'll usually put an album on my record player.  But when I want to discover new music, I'll use one of the streaming services and go surfing.  You can start with a Hampton Hawes or an Oscar Peterson or a Wynton Kelly, and then use Spotify's or Rhapsody's reference engine to find "similar artists" to try.  Pick one, and repeat.  And then buy more records.  

Good luck!

Hook

Some good suggestions above.

I'd add in Michel Petruciani, George Shearing and Nat King Cole - who, before he found fame as a singer, was a superb jazz pianist.

Duke Ellington, as well as being jazz's pre-eminent bandleader and composer, was also a magnificent (and somewhat elliptical) pianist.

Finally, not exactly smooth, but you could also check out the late great Esbjorn Svensson - his trio was one of the best ensembles in contemporary jazz.

+1. EST was a great, great trio!  A tragic loss when he died. I think I read it was a scuba diving accident?

It was Hook. A very tragic loss to music indeed.

I only ever saw the EST once (at the Barbican) and it's probably the best jazz concert I've ever been to.

+1 for Bill Evans.

Kenny Barron is also very fine with a constant sense of melody.

Two outstanding (live) recordings :

- People Time (with Stan Getz)

- Night and the City (with Charlie Haden)

I agree with a lot of the above suggestions but I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Herbie Hancock. 'Empyrean Isles' and 'Maiden Voyage' are two to recommend.  

A little more obscure, but try Iiro Rantala's 'My History of Jazz'. A new discovery for me, thanks to a newspaper review, but a great record regardless. Nikki Iles is also very fine - straight jazz with style.

Thank you all for your recommendations. Hope to give it back to you someday.

With all those names, there's a lot of good times ahead for me !

Serge

You should like anything with Gene Harris.  He plays on many of the Ray Brown Trio recordings.

Jessica Williams has many fine jazz albums.

You might like "The Gershwin Connection" by Dave Grusin.

Thelonious Monk is good, but a little of mainstream, as is Kieth Jarrett.

Try Greg Reitan, or Joe Sample.

Happy listening,

Charlie

Doesn't get smoother than Tord. Try "The Ground".

So you can now hear the humming and grunting much more clearly? 

Agree. One of my favourites. Seeing him in a small venue next year. Looking forward to it very much.

Hi Winky

Too true - that's the only drawback. I was playing  the excellent "Waltz for Debby" CD by Bill Evans recently.  This is a live recording and the background noise of the audience is much more noticeable now - however, the interplay between Evans and bassist Scott Lafaro is also so much better.

Bob

"Marian McPartland Plays the Music of Mary Lou Williams" would meet your criteria. Gorgeous stuff.